If you like Megan Abbott, Laura Kasischke, or the 2011 movie Sleeping Beauty starring Emily Browning, then this is a must-read.

IN THE RED by Elana Mauli Shapiro/September 16/ Little Brown

When Irina–Romanian by birth but brought up by American parents who have never understood her-arrives at college she quickly abandons ordinary student life for an affair with an older, mysterious Romanian man named Andrei.

Andrei awakens a powerful sensuality in Irina. And he has money – lots of it. For the first time, Irina feels free. But the longer she stays with Andrei, the more she is certain that she can’t leave, and that may be complicit in Andrei’s work – whatever that “work” might be. Then an unexpected friendship with a young Russian bride opens the door to escape, and also revenge.

A tantalizing, edgy exploration of women and love, power and money-interwoven with potent, unusual, and nervy Romanian fairy tales-In the Red asks what the legacy of love is, and who will be left unscathed.

After eight years in the American Furniture department at Christie’s, twenty-nine-year-old Carolyn Everett is a rising star. But one wrong decision and a scandal leaves her unemployed and broken. Desperate to piece her life back together, Carolyn leaves New York City to work in a tiny antique store in Newport, Rhode Island.

One day at a small county auction, she discovers a piece of Middle Eastern pottery, which she purchases for twenty dollars on a hunch. Curiosity sends her on a mission to find its original owner, and she eventually winds up in the town’s United States Navy Base—and in a relationship with notorious womanizer Marine Sergeant Tyler Ford, who claims the relic came to him as a gift from his translator during the early days of the Iraq War. From two different worlds, Tyler and Carolyn become obsessed with the mysterious relic—and each other—until the origin of the art comes under intense scrutiny and reveals a darker side of Tyler’s past. Carolyn still feels like there’s more to the story, but can she risk attaching herself to another scandal—and does she truly know the man she’s fallen in love with?

The Price of Inheritance is a rare find of a novel. Engaging, suspenseful, and full of intrigue, it delves into the elite world of big bucks deals and dangerous black market promises, where one woman must decide whether she’s willing to gamble her greatest asset—her heart.

Washington Square Press/August 5

]]>http://jamiebrenner.com/what-im-reading-now-3/feed/0Talking with Girlfriends Book Clubhttp://jamiebrenner.com/talking-with-girlfriends-book-club/
http://jamiebrenner.com/talking-with-girlfriends-book-club/#respondWed, 11 Jun 2014 20:08:41 +0000http://jamiebrenner.com/?p=2077Today I get to chat with author Brenda Janowitz of Girlfriends Book Club about Ruin Me, art as inspiration, and what I’m working on next…

]]>http://jamiebrenner.com/talking-with-girlfriends-book-club/feed/0Now or Never reviewhttp://jamiebrenner.com/now-or-never-review/
http://jamiebrenner.com/now-or-never-review/#respondSun, 02 Mar 2014 18:37:24 +0000http://jamiebrenner.com/?p=1893“Now or Never/Now and Forever came recommended to me by several blogging friends and made many reviewers’ Best of 2013 lists for best smexy novella. Mine too (once I finally get the post up! lol). The two books together make a full novel with a very, very satisfying conclusion. As in OMG my chest is tight, hand me a tissue and a vodka milkshake STAT!

Now or Never/Now and Forever is a modern, must read romance for women of all ages. Period. I laughed, I got a little misty eyed, I blushed in places I didn’t know I could blush, and I totally stopped reading at one point early on and contacted the author via email to personally share with her my initial fears and the fact that she now had me convinced I needed this book in movie form, like yesterday! ~Now or Never is romantic, swoony and erotic in the best of ways.”

]]>http://jamiebrenner.com/now-or-never-review/feed/0Upcoming Event: Heating Things Up at the NYPLhttp://jamiebrenner.com/upcoming-event-heating-things-up-at-the-nypl/
http://jamiebrenner.com/upcoming-event-heating-things-up-at-the-nypl/#respondThu, 06 Feb 2014 14:07:52 +0000http://jamiebrenner.com/?p=1871It’s been a rough few weeks here in frozen NYC, but things are finally heating up! As the author of the erotic novel The Librarian (bringing debauchery to The New York Public Library), I am especially excited to be included in a panel discussion about erotic fiction next Wednesday evening, February 12 at … The New York Public Library. I love full circles.

]]>http://jamiebrenner.com/upcoming-event-heating-things-up-at-the-nypl/feed/0First Review of NOW AND FOREVERhttp://jamiebrenner.com/first-review-of-now-and-forever/
http://jamiebrenner.com/first-review-of-now-and-forever/#respondFri, 17 Jan 2014 15:31:58 +0000http://jamiebrenner.com/?p=1851With the official pub date right around the corner on Monday, I have my first review of Now and Forever, the conclusion to Claire and Justin’s love story that began in Now or Never.

Let’s get this out of the way right up front: Now and Forever by Logan Belleis “part two” of a story that started with Now Or Never. It probably could be read as a stand-alone, but I would not recommend it and actively discourage it. Because why would you want to deprive yourself of the whole story when that whole story is so amazing? Belle lays exemplary groundwork in the first novella, and part two is where the real meat and potatoes of the romance is. Part one gets you hooked and part two gives you the pay-off.

Claire is finally moving forward with her cancer treatment. While the cancer itself was caught early, Claire discovered she has the faulty BRCA gene. That means double mastectomy, reconstruction (which she opts for) and an eventual hysterectomy. So our gal really has no time for a relationship. She found herself caring for Justin, the playboy who helped her create the “Now or Never” sexual bucket list – but after their one night together, and one of the most gut-wrenching emotional scenes I’veever read, he’s off in the wind. Or is he? Because as much as Justin tells himself that he’s not a relationship guy he finds himself unable to stay away from Claire. The fly in the ointment? Claire’s not sure this is the time in her life that she should be opening herself up for possible relationship disaster.

I don’t want to imply that Justin was thinly drawn in the first novella, but readers do really only get to know the surface Justin. The façade he puts on display for the world. The devil-may-care playboy who trolls AA meetings to pick-up women, the guy who doesn’t have to worry about money because his family has money, the guy who is all surface and flash. However meeting Claire, spending time with her, and yes – falling in love with her, changes him. As falling in love tends to do to a person. The problem is that now he realizes how he feels about her? Claire is the one running scared. Not without good reason. She cares for Justin as well, but she’s got a long road ahead of her. Does she really want to expose him to all that when keeping their time together in a perfect, pristine, bubble – protected from the messiness of her health situation – is more attractive? She doesn’t want Justin to think of her “like that” – with her breasts gone, sporting drainage tubes, in pain, and getting her chest expanded in preparation for reconstruction. Justin has proven in the past that when life gets messy he runs. Clare doesn’t think she could survive him running, so why not cut him off at the knees now?

It’s all very complicated. However complications are funny things. Sometimes people make things more complicated than they need to be because they’re scared. And that’s our Claire. She’s scared. Justin has to prove to her she doesn’t have to be scared – but that’s not easy to do when she seems determined to push him away.

The secondary characters also add a nice dimension, and Belle introduces some new players that were footnotes in the first story. Readers get to meet the delightful Max, Claire’s only son now off at college, and none too pleased his mother kept her health issues a secret for so long. Also, Justin’s completely jacked-up family situation comes into play – with a domineering father, a clinically depressed mother, and wastrel brother. This really helps further develop Justin as more than a pretty-faced-playboy and molds him into someone more hero-worthy.

While the first novella was all about the heroine’s journey, this story gives readers a more finely focused, traditional, romantic story arc. Justin proves himself, and Claire learns to take a leap of faith. I didn’t love this quite as much as the first novella (which, honestly, was the best kind of emotional gut-punch for me) but this second novella is where these characters firmly cement themselves in my mind as “real people.” Which, of course, they aren’t. I know that. But when a fictional story tricks me into thinking they are real? We have a winner.

Final Grade = A-

]]>http://jamiebrenner.com/first-review-of-now-and-forever/feed/0“The good and the great…”http://jamiebrenner.com/the-good-and-the-great/
http://jamiebrenner.com/the-good-and-the-great/#respondSat, 11 Jan 2014 22:03:20 +0000http://jamiebrenner.com/?p=1833NOW OR NEVER is on Wendy Crutcher (aka Misadventures of Superlibrarian’s) Year in Review: The Good and the Great. And I’m in some pretty amazing company. Thank you, Wendy!

]]>http://jamiebrenner.com/the-good-and-the-great/feed/0“Put a wedding in it.”http://jamiebrenner.com/put-a-wedding-in-it/
http://jamiebrenner.com/put-a-wedding-in-it/#respondSun, 05 Jan 2014 23:49:55 +0000http://jamiebrenner.com/?p=1798My agent once told me that when it comes to making a good story great, sometimes you just have to “put a wedding in it.” Yesterday, I married him.
]]>http://jamiebrenner.com/put-a-wedding-in-it/feed/0Happy 2014http://jamiebrenner.com/happy-2014/
http://jamiebrenner.com/happy-2014/#respondThu, 02 Jan 2014 13:22:33 +0000http://jamiebrenner.com/?p=1794Highlight of break: American Hustle. Amy Adams, never knew you had it in you.

Aside from that, spent much time this past week gearing up for the publication of Now and Forever on January 20th. It’s the conclusion of Claire and Justin’s story, and from what my early readers are telling me, it will not disappoint Cover reveal coming soon.

More news next week. For now, just wishing everyone a healthy and happy 2014.

]]>http://jamiebrenner.com/happy-2014/feed/0Happy holidays!http://jamiebrenner.com/happy-holidays/
http://jamiebrenner.com/happy-holidays/#respondFri, 20 Dec 2013 18:31:08 +0000http://jamiebrenner.com/?p=1772Wishing everyone happy holidays. I think 2014 is going to be a great year for romance!